Prologue
*Emer*
The day that my “mother” allowed a guard to crack my skull open was the day she was dead to me. For someone who wasn’t my real mother, she’d given me an excessive amount of shit in my lifetime. I’d always kept the worst of it to myself, somehow believing that I’d deserved it, but I hit a threshold when she left me bleeding on the cold, castle floor.
It was the day I realized that my adopted mother might not care if I died. What was even worse was the conclusion that someday she might actually be the cause of my death. Perhaps I’d waited too long to do anything about it, or maybe it was the false sense of security I had that my brother, Crown Prince Belenus, would always protect me. Turned out he couldn’t be everywhere at once, especially when his fated mate was being targeted.
When I woke in the hospital, Doctor Elisedd told me I’d been unconscious for several days, even with his staff working day and night to save my life. I was shaken from the unprovoked attack, but honestly, the worst part was when I heard what’d happened to Hekla and Belenus. Losing the two people who meant the most to me was crushing, and I cried. I cried for hours.
About a month ago, Belenus met his fated mate, Hekla, in the Realm of the Humans, and I’d been incredibly excited about that because it meant he wouldn’t have to marry Eislyn, a wretched creature and a princess of the Spring Court. Our “mother” invented a nonsense loophole and signed a contract to finalize Belenus’ engagement to that selfish, nasty, entitled bitch. Since then, my brother had been working nonstop to find a way out of the magically binding contract so he could be with his fated mate.
Unfortunately, the fae court whittled away at his fated mate’s spirit. Hekla had finally been tricked and chased out of the castle by that spring princess whore, and Belenus had gone off to find her. I’d rooted for those two though I believed their future together was probably impossible.
I hated Eislyn with the passion of a hundred menstruating banshees, and I really liked the she-wolf who was fated to my brother. Truly, I thought that Hekla would be strong enough to survive the fae court.
Then again, I thought that I was strong enough. I wasn’t. Not even the status of princess had been enough protection. The summer court had almost been the death of me, and the day I woke from my injury was the day I swore I’d sabotage whatever plans the queen had with the spring princess.
It didn’t take getting bludgeoned to know that something was terribly wrong and that my “mother” was at the heart of it.
